An interview with a choreographer for the Miss Universe pageant spurred controversy Wednesday over alleged claims that Donald Trump personally selects some of the finalists. The Q&A with Michael Schwandt, which appeared on Guanabee.com, quotes him as saying that “it’s just kind of common knowledge that [Trump] picks six of the top 15 single-handedly.” “And, his reason for doing so, as he told me and he’s told the girls before, is that he left it all up to preliminary judging in the past, and some of the most beautiful women, in his opinion, were not in the top 15, and he was kind of upset about that,” the story quotes Schwandt as saying. “And he decided that he would pick a certain number and let the judges pick a certain number.” Via e-mail, Schwandt said that he “was speaking in hypothetical jest” when he said Trump picks some of the finalists and said the mogul has never spoken to either him, or any of his team, about the selection process.
